What does it actually feel like to reach pushing stage?

[Ididivfama]

I’ve never got that far and really want to know! How long does it take and what helps?

It felt completely involuntary and like a relief, my body knew what it was doing and just wasn't going to let me do anything except push.

I was at that stage but have no idea how it felt. I hadn’t had any pain relief but I was knackered. It didn’t feel natural I had to keep asking midwife what to do and to talk me through it 🥴. Ended up in suction cup and then forceps so I couldn’t have been very good at it 🤔

similar to others, I would say its like some kind of animal instinct you just know its time. When i had my second, the midwife tried to tell me it wasn't time to push but i screamed ‘ this baby is coming now’ and she checked and id gone fully dilated. He did then shoot out like a rocket after about 6 pushes lol

Not long for me. Couple of hours naturally. 20 mins with my last but that was on the devil drip with no pain relief. Thought I was going to die. The pushing bit I didn’t feel much because I find it hard to have much sensation beyond the intense contractions. This might be a precipitous labour thing though. With my last I did feel her coming round the bend though and I think my eyes rolled back in my head. Just felt like someone was trying to turn me inside out. Honestly I marvel sometimes that child birth is so much a normal part of life.

Agreed: like you need to do an enormous poo. So much so that I was convinced I'd made a huge mistake, and was apologising to the midwives babbling that 'actually, I think I just need the loo...'

Yeah, totally different for me - it was the most painful part (I didn't even feel the baby crowning) and it wasn't at all involuntary or instinctive. I had to grit my teeth and do it even though every push hurt. It took around 2 hours. With DC2 everything hurt a lot more, the pushing was involuntary and instinctive, and it took 45 minutes from waters breaking/first regular contraction to holding my baby.

The baby is bearing down into your pelvic floor and the pressure makes you want to push. Like others have said, that feeling when you're desperate for a poo and it's coming and you have to push it out.

I think the moment when the head crowns, and when you're delivering baby's shoulders (widest part) is the worst. After that the rest of the baby just slips out. Mind you, for my first the whole bloody thing hurt as DD was back to back with me. I managed to get through the whole thing with gas and air. I was begging for something stronger (I was too far along) and pleading that I couldn't do it (lol) but of course you do.

I don't relate to it feeling like needing a poo at all. It was nothing like that feeling for me and nothing like any kind of urge you could control. The urge to push was a totally different feeling to needing to poo.

The most relatable is the poster that mentioned being sick. When you're vomiting and your stomach is clenching you can't NOT vomit and can't control it.

That's what it was like for two of my births. The pushing was almost automatic, my body knew what to do and I couldn't not push.

My other birth (my first), I was naiive and easily led and let the midwife convince me to have an epidural. I had no urge to push. No feeling. They told me when to push and I had no idea how to or what I was supposed to be doing because of the epi. Very nearly an emergency section but ended up with cut and ventouse.

The only thing written in my birth plans for 2 and 3 was NO EPIDURAL. And I warned dh that even if I was screaming for one, it was his job to convince me otherwise and not let me.

I don’t really know what differentiates the pushing stage from the rest of it. For me, it feels like they are all one stage and there is no difference. There has never been a point in any labour of mine when there was a declaration or shift into a different mode. I felt like I was pushing the baby out from the first sign of labour.

officially on my notes I did have second stages and they were 2 minutes, 9 minutes and 4 minutes long. So that’s the official version

I always imagined it would be like pushing through my vagina but in reality it's just like doing a poo, you might feel that's the wrong set of muscles but it's not. My mum rather eloquently said it would be like 'shitting a football' and I'm afraid to say she was spot on.

My exact words to the doctor/midwife were "I feel like the world is coming out of my arse"

It's a VERY powerful feeling - maybe the most powerful and overwhelming feeling you may ever have in your body. Even 20+ years on, just thinking about it brings back the visceral memory of it.

No, it wasn't the most painful bit (that was the contractions). It is amazing how strong your uterus is!!!

I had fast spontaneous labours with all of mine. It's probably different for slower labours or if you're pushing for hours.

Get the epidural and live your best life.

I felt that nice stage of being wine drunk and couldn’t feel any pain. I felt pressure, like when you have a tooth removed - but no pain. It was lovely.

Like you’ve been constipated for 9 months and all of a sudden after some crippling stomach pains your body is finally expelling the cause. Both painful but oddly satisfying at the same time.

Right at the end, I had enough pain and thought fuck it! I don't care if I tear I want to push.

It was very instinctive.

I've had three and never felt any urge to push. I had to be told that I was ready. It only took 5 to ten minutes to push them out.

I pushed because they told me I was ready to, but I didn't have an overwhelming urge to do it. The actual sensation of having a baby moving down the birth canal was really interesting because it was so familiar that I remember thinking 'I'd surely know if I'd done this before?' Just like, ah, yeah, this. Of course.

And for me transition was the most painful bit; pushing was fine, really.

With my first, I just new. After 19 hours of hellish contractions i was so happy to get the urge to push! It's unmistakable, just feels like the only thing you can do.

With my second it was all off (thanks to a sadistic midwife) and suddenly I was pushing while my husband and another (normal,kind) midwife pushed my bed down the corridor trying to find a private room.. and I wasn't really prepared for the speed of it! I was pushing while also trying to keep baby in.

Like having a poo. When giving birth to my second baby I was in the pool and despite already doing this once before I said to my MW and DH sorry I need a poo and I'm not getting out so I'm apologising now for what you're about to see. I pushed out what I thought was the worlds largest shit and instead the MW told me the head was out. I didn't realise I was literally giving birth though in my defence, we'd arrived at the hospital an hour earlier and I was 7cm and there were no signs to me that this has changed. Looking back the MW clearly knew as she got the 2nd MW in 10 minutes earlier but didn't say anything to me!

For me when I was ready to push it was like a bowling bowl had just kind of thrown into my pelvis, it was the only sensation I could feel. You could have chopped ny arm off and I wouldn't have noticed. Before that point the contractions hurt a lot, when it's time to push you push with the pain and the effort takes over from the pain. I had one labour with about 8 hours of contractions followed by 3 hours pushing (way too long) and it was bearable but exhausting. My second Labour was induced so only about 40 mins of proper contractions and 5 minutes pushing. The pushing feels good because you know every one is a step closer to meeting the baby.

It feels like an alien is trying to get out of your nether regions. Which is not far from the truth really.

This is the most accurate description of childbirth I have ever read!

I didn’t feel an ‘urge’ to push at all. The widwife told me I had to push so I started squeezing like you see on TV, that is not enough 😂. It definitely feels like the biggest poo you’ll ever have. And he kept going back up a bit when each contraction ended, making it last even longer!

Yes it felt like I needed to poo I actually rung the midwife and said I wasn't sure if I just needed the toilet or what was going on. The contractions for me were far worse than anything else both times. Pushing was at least like you were nearing the end. Also made so many noises which I'm not sure I could ever make again even if I tried!

I think I was pushing for about an hour, the contractions leading up to this were the most painful in my opinion. When I rang the hospital to say I was in agony they basically told me I was a first time mum so never experienced labour so of course it felt bad when I was probably not far along. I was 7cm when I got there and I feel like the contractions really ramped up. The pushing bit was hard work physically but I don’t remember any pain because I was pushing the pain of the contraction away if that makes sense.